


Dinner and Nerves

by BeingAPartOfSomethingSpecial



Series: Spierfield Week - 9th to 15th [5]
Category: Love Simon (2018), Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Meeting the Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 20:19:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14316399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeingAPartOfSomethingSpecial/pseuds/BeingAPartOfSomethingSpecial
Summary: ‘‘Bram, stop worrying, they’re going to love you,’ Simon says quietly as he pulls the car into the driveway. He reaches over and places his hand on his boyfriend’s leg to hold it still. Bram glances over at him and tries to smile but it comes out wobbly and shy.‘I guess,’ he replies, looking back down at his hands tangled in his lap. ‘I just worry.’’Bram meets Simon’s parents for the first time for real and he’s nervous that they won’t like him. Simon is adamant that they will.Day Five of Spierfeld Week - Ensemble Day





	Dinner and Nerves

**Author's Note:**

> I am now a day behind for Spierfeld Week because I had to go back to university yesterday. I will attempt to catch up but otherwise, I'll just post the last one on Monday instead of Sunday.

‘Bram, stop worrying, they’re going to love you,’ Simon says quietly as he pulls the car into the driveway. He reaches over and places his hand on his boyfriend’s leg to hold it still. Bram glances over at him and tries to smile but it comes out wobbly and shy.

          ‘I guess,’ he replies, looking back down at his hands tangled in his lap. ‘I just worry.’

          ‘I know you do, and it’s adorable. I love that you want them to like you, and they will, I promise.’

          ‘How can you be so sure?’ Bram asks, picking at his thumb nail. Simon moves his hand from Bram’s thigh to curl around his hand and pull it gently towards his own lap. He turns in his seat and smiles warmly, squeezing Bram’s hand to get him to look over. He doesn’t, he keeps his eyes trained on his lap.

          ‘Because _I_ like you,’ he says. Bram blushes faintly. ‘And you make me happy. All they want is for me to happy, therefore, they have to like you.’

          He squeezes Bram’s hand again and this Bram squeezes back. He looks up from his lap and smiles at him. The smile this time is so much more real, it pulls up more on one side than the other and his eyes crinkle at the edges.

          ‘Promise?’

          ‘Promise.’

          Bram takes a deep breath and nods, turning to let himself out of the car.

          ‘Let’s go, then,’ he says, pushing the door open and jumping out. Simon laughs and follows him out, pulling the door to backseat open and grabbing the flowers Bram had insisted on buying for his mum.

          His boyfriend glances over at the flowers and his eyes widen.

          ‘I really hope those flowers are okay. What if they’re not? What if she hates them? Maybe this is a bad idea. I should just forget the flowers. Maybe we should forget this whole –’

          ‘Don’t you dare finish that sentence,’ Simon says, cutting him off and reaching out to grab his hand. ‘It’s going to be fine, the flowers are perfect. _You’re_ perfect. Stop worrying so much.’

          Bram nods and takes another deep breath, taking the flowers that Simon is holding out to him and squeezing his boyfriend’s hand.

          They make their way towards the door. Once they reach it, Simon glances over at Bram and smiles.

          ‘You ready?’

          ‘As I’ll ever be.’

          Simon laughs and pushes the door open.

          ‘Mum? Dad? Nora? We’re back.’

          The sound of footsteps on the stairs fills the small entrance way and Simon squeezes Bram’s hand as Nora appears in front of them. She holds out her hand for Bram to shake.

          ‘Hello,’ she says politely. ‘It’s lovely to meet you.’

          ‘Oh, umm, it’s lovely to meet you too.’

          Nora giggles and Bram flushes. Simon glares at his little sister.

          ‘Play nice, Nora.’

          She sticks her tongue out at him before turning to Bram again.

          ‘I don’t know _how_ you put with him!’

          Bram glances at Simon, a soft smile on his face.

          ‘Yeah,’ he says with a chuckle. ‘Me neither.’

          Simon turns his glare on him, pouting and narrowing his eyes.

          ‘Hey, as my boyfriend, you’re supposed to be nice to me.’

          ‘Nah,’ Bram laughs. ‘As your boyfriend, I’m supposed to be honest with you.’

          Simon laughs and sticks his tongue out.

          ‘Hate you,’ he says with a grin. Bram squeezes his hand.

          ‘Hate you too, Si.’

          ‘You two are gross,’ Nora says loudly. Simon laughs and leans into Bram’s shoulder.

          ‘Yeah, maybe a bit,’ he replies with a grin.

          ‘Mum’s in the lounge and dad’s out with Bieber.’

          ‘Awesome, thanks,’ Simon says, glancing at Bram. ‘What are you making for us tonight?’

          ‘I’m doing a stirfry, it’s easy,’ she replies. She glances at Bram. ‘Is that okay for you?’

          Bram nods. ‘That sounds amazing. Simon mentioned that you like cooking.’

          ‘Yeah,’ Nora replies. ‘I’m going to be a chef.’

          Bram grins and nods.

          ‘Good luck then.’

          She grins back and disappears into the kitchen. Simon squeezes Bram’s hand and leads him into the lounge.

          ‘Hey mum,’ he says. Bram tries to pull his hand away as Emily looks up. Simon glances at him and smiles, squeezing his hand tighter.

          ‘Hey Simon,’ she says. She turns to Bram with a smile and says, ‘hi, it’s Bram, isn’t it?’

          He nods and smiles back. His smile is shaky and nervous but there.

          ‘Yes, Mrs Spier. It’s Bram. I brought these for you.’

          He holds out the flowers and blushes.

          ‘Oh, no, call me Emily, please. Mrs Spier makes me sound so old!’ she laughs. ‘And they’re lovely, Bram, thank you so much.’

          Bram opens his mouth to apologise but Simon shakes his head and squeezes his hand. Bram watched Emily’s eyes catch on their joined hands and he makes to pull away before he sees the soft smile on her face.

          ‘Come sit down, both of you, I’ll take those and get them into some water.’

          Simon leads Bram towards the sofa and flops onto it. Bram sits down gingerly next to him. Simon pokes his leg and he glances over at him.

          ‘Relax, you’re doing great.’

          Bram smiles nervously and curls their fingers together.

          ‘You sure?’

          ‘Absolutely sure,’ Simon says as he leans over to press his lips gently to Bram’s cheek. ‘You’re amazing.’

          ‘You’re amazing,’ Bram replies quickly, twisting their fingers and stroking the back of Simon’s hand with his thumb. Simon leans forwards again and kisses the edge of Bram’s mouth. ‘Si, your mum’ll be back in a second.’

          ‘I know, I just want one.’

          Bram can feel the blush spreading over his cheeks as he turns slightly to press his lips to Simon’s. He hears someone cough as he pulls away and his blush deepens. It gets even worse when Simon’s eyes widen as he looks over Bram’s shoulder.

          ‘Umm, hey dad.’

          ‘Hey Simon. And you must be Bram.’

          Bram takes a deep breath and turns to face him. He smiles and tries to will his blush away.

          ‘Yes, sir, that’s me.’

          ‘Sir?’ Simon’s dad laughs. ‘Nah, call me Jack. I can’t stand formality.’

          Bram nods. ‘Okay, thank you, Jack.’

          Emily walks back into the room and sits back down on the sofa, gesturing for Jack to join her.

          ‘Nora’s just finishing off her stirfry, she’s very excited for you to try it Bram, she says that she can’t wait to have the opinion of someone outside the family,’ she says with a kind smile. Bram smiles back, the flush disappearing as he relaxes.

          ‘I can’t wait to try it,’ he says. ‘Simon’s told me all about Nora’s cooking and how good it is.’

          Jack laughs. ‘Did he tell you about the times when it’s not so good?’

          Bram shakes his head. ‘No, he just stuck to the things that worked.’

          ‘Yeah, well,’ Simon says, grinning. ‘I didn’t want to scare you off when you’d just agreed to come over.’

          Bram smiles back, feeling Simon squeeze his hand again.

          ‘So, Bram, how about you tell us a bit about yourself?’

          Bram takes a deep breath and glances at Simon. Simon smiles encouragingly and mouths _‘go on, you got this.’_ Bram smiles softly and nods.

          ‘Umm,’ he starts, pausing when he can’t think of anything to start with. Simon smiles at him.

          ‘Bram plays soccer and he’s really smart, he’s really good at English, especially.’

          Emily smiles at him. ‘That’s nice. Do you play with Nick?’

          ‘Yeah, I play for the school team, same as Nick does,’ he says, relaxing slightly.

          ‘Do you enjoy it?’

          ‘Yes, it’s really good fun.’

          Jack grins. ‘Well, I suppose you get an extra point for playing a sport even if it’s a rubbish one.’

          Bram blushes and looks down at his hands. Simon glares at his dad and shakes his head, reaching out his hand to grab Bram’s.

          ‘Don’t listen to him, B, he’s just jealous because you still have all your brain cells whereas _his_ all got knocked out playing football in high school.’

          Jack laughs and pushes at Simon’s shoulder gently.

          ‘I guess I deserved that.’

          ‘You did,’ Simon says sharply. Bram squeezes his hand and smiles.

          ‘Did Simon ever tell you that he came to watch one of our, what did you call it again, Si? Soccer _rehearsals_?’

          Jack laughs and slaps his son on the arm.

          ‘Rehearsals? Are you serious, Si?’

          Simon turns on the sofa to glare at Bram.

          ‘I can’t believe you told _my dad_ that. Now I’ll never live it down,’ he whines.

          ‘I’m sorry,’ Bram replies, but he’s grinning brightly so the apology is dampened somewhat. ‘It was just too good not to share.’

          ‘The stirfry’s ready,’ Nora calls from the other room. Emily stands up and gestures towards the kitchen. Jack and Emily make their way into the other room, Emily glances over her shoulder as she reaches the door.

          ‘Don’t be too long, Si, it’ll get cold else.’

          Simon nods and she disappears through the door. Simon turns to Bram and squeezes both of his hand in his, a smile on his face.

          ‘You’re doing so well, relax.’

          ‘Thank you, Simon, I just really want them to like me.’

          ‘They will, just be you. Just be my lovely, smart, funny boyfriend and they’ll love you. As if there’s any way they couldn’t.’

           ‘You’re perfect, Si,’ Bram says quietly. Simon smiles and leans over to press a quick kiss to Bram’s lips.

          ‘As are you, but we have to go or Nora’ll go mental.’

          Bram nods and stands up quickly, holding his hand out to Simon. Simon laughs and let’s himself get pulled to his feet. They make their way into the kitchen and take their seats, hands tangled together between the chairs.

          ‘Thank you, Nora,’ Bram says as she places a plate down in front of him. ‘It looks lovely.’

          She blushes and pushes her hair behind her ear. ‘Thank you, Bram.’

          They talk for a while longer, Jack and Emily asking Bram questions about school and his family and how coming out had been for him.

          ‘Well,’ Bram starts with a grin. ‘The first time I tried to come out to my dad, he interrupted me before I actually told to give me a present.’

          ‘That’s nice,’ Emily says with a smile. Simon laughs and nudges Bram’s shoulder.

          ‘Tell them what the gift was B.’

          ‘It was a book all about Casanova.’

          Jack and Emily burst out laughing, Nora glances at Simon in confusion. He waves her off and tells her to just forget it.

          ‘It’s a smart people thing,’ he whispers with a grin. ‘I didn’t get it to start with either, I had to google who Casanova was.’

          Nora giggles and leans back in her seat with a nod.

          ‘And _then_ ,’ Simon continues, glancing at Bram for permission. His boyfriend nods. ‘When Bram actually _did_ get to come out, one of the first things his dad said was “well, Casanova was bisexual”.’

          The two of them laughed even harder, Emily clutching at Jack’s shoulder as she leant towards him.

          ‘But it went well?’ she asks through her laughter. ‘Mostly?’

          ‘Yes, thank you,’ Bram replies. ‘It went really well.’

          The meal passes quickly after that, Bram relaxes more and compliments Nora's cooking and talks to Jack about soccer. Emily watches as her son and his boyfriend lean towards each other as they eat, hands brushing gently under the table. She loves to see her son happy and she doesn’t think he’s ever looked happy than he does at that moment.

          It has gone nine o’clock by the time Simon says that him and Bram need to leave soon to make sure that Bram gets home before ten. Emily smiles and nods, waving the two of them off from washing up.

          She meets them at the door and smiles warmly.

          ‘You’re welcome back at any time, Bram. Either for dinner or just to come over.’

          Jack’s voice can be heard from the kitchen.

          ‘Ask him if he wants to watch The Bachelor with us!’

          Emily laughs and turns to Bram.

          ‘You can say no,’ she laughs. Bram shakes his head.

          ‘I’d like to, I’ve just never seen it before.’

          ‘Then it’s definitely not a choice,’ Jack says, walking into the corridor and grinning. ‘Get home safe and don’t be too late Si.’

          ‘I won’t be, I promise.’

          The two of them leave soon after and climb into Simon’s car. He starts it up and they make their way through the streets to Bram’s house. Simon glances at Bram throughout the journey but he is sitting quietly, smiling to himself. Simon clicks on the radio and reaches over to squeeze Bram’s hand. Bram glances back at him and smiles softly.

          They pull up alongside Bram’s house soon after, Simon turns the engine off and turns in his seat to face his boyfriend.

          ‘What’s up, B?’

          ‘Do you think they liked me?’

          Simon laughs.

          ‘B, they _loved_ you. Just like I said they would.’

          ‘How do you know though?’

          Simon grins and squeezes his hand.

          ‘Well,’ he pauses to laugh. ‘We don’t invite just _anyone_ to watch The Bachelor with us.’


End file.
